This invention relates to office seating and is concerned with the incorporation of activity features into office seating allowing the occupant to obtain beneficial exercise during the performance of work tasks.
The nature of a significant portion of today's office work involves principally sedentary activities. In other words performance of the typical office work tasks makes attendance at an individual's office work station essential for most of the work day. The design of conventional office work stations has heretofore been directed to optimizing the efficient conduct of the particular work tasks which are to be performed. This effort has failed to address the root causes of physiological problems which are related to sedentary activity although particular medical problems which can arise out of extended periods of sedentary office work activity have long been recognized.
The names given to certain of these problems, banker's leg, chair disease, loose back, etc., attest to the recognition of the relationship of certain diseases to extended periods of being seated. Whatever efforts have heretofore been made toward addressing these problems, have unfortunately heretofore not been directed to their root causes. The incorporation of various accessories, such as lumbar support devices, support cushions, etc., while possibly promoting the comfort of the occupant to a certain degree, do not address the underlying problem of sedentary activity, namely the lack of physiological exercise. Moreover it has not previously been recognized that therapeutic exercises can be conducted at a work station without interference with performance of work tasks.
The present invention is directed to a new and unique seating concept which provides a sedentary occupant with a means for conducting certain exercise activities concurrently with the performance of work tasks. In other words the invention provides various physical relief and exercise functions without interference with the normal work activity modes which are executed in the sitting position. Indeed it has now been discovered that the influence of the seating on the health, productivity, and satisfaction of the office and operational task worker can be very important. The present invention can provide an improvement in the physiological and psychological health of sedentary workers and can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the knowledge worker.
The discoveries which have been made in connection with the present invention are such that they relate to various particular bodily functions which can be performed without interference with the usual work activity. These include the following: a pedal pumping motion in which the occupant's feet pump on a pedal pumping device; a rocking motion of the seat with the pivot point of the rocking arc being at the occupant's head so as to enable him or her to maintain task contact while carrying out posture relief movements which are beneficial to spinal tissue and muscle tone of the legs and trunk; a pull/relax motion which allows the occupant to flex his or her arms against a resistance improving muscle tone beneficial to the joint tissues of the arm and back; and a recline motion in which the back pivots without the seat tilting to allow for relief postures which maintain the angle between the thighs and trunk while maintaining support of the back.
In connection with the pedal pumping function the invention provides a foot pedal mechanism which comprises a treadle plate disposed at an angle to the floor allowing the occupant to place his or her feet on the treadle plate at a comfortable angle and with the legs extended so that the angle between the upper and lower legs is greater than 90.degree. . The foot pumping motion is greatly beneficial in reducing blood stagnation originating in the veins of the legs. The ankle flexing action works the valves in the leg veins forcing blood up the leg and back to the heart. The beneficial therapeutic effect of a walking flex of the foot is well documented in medical literature. The placement of the feet also is beneficial in connection with spinal posture, particularly being beneficial to tissue of the spine.
The seat rocking motion with a pivot point of the rocking arc at the occupant's head enables him or her to maintain task contact with the work task at hand while carrying out posture relief movements. These movements are beneficial to spinal tissue and to the muscle tone of the legs and trunk.
The present invention discloses several embodiments of seating mechanism which allow the occupant to accomplish this type of rocking motion. In one embodiment the seat is supported on a pedestal through a track and roller arrangement. The track defines the nature of the rocking motion of the seat. The rocking motion may be executed against a yieldable resistance which may be embodied as an adjustable tensioning element. This allows the degree of resistance to be set for maximum benefit to the particular occupant.
In another embodiment the seat is mounted on the upright by means of a pair of four-bar links with one four bar link being spaced forwardly and the other rearwardly. A yieldable adjustment mechanism may also be employed with this embodiment. In yet another embodiment the seat is suspended from a fixed member by means of suspension arms for fore and aft motion with the suspension arms having pivotal joints comprising resiliently yieldable bushings.
The recline motion is imparted by means of a yieldably resilient mounting of the seat back with respect to the seat which is so constructed that during recline only the seat back and not the arms nor the seat tilt backwards. This allows beneficial activity to the back without undesirable effects which occur when the seat and the arm also recline, as in a conventional recliner office chair, impacting the undersides of table tops and impacting the knees.
The arm extension motion is provided by a hand grip which is mounted on an armrest for grasping and fore and aft movement by the occupant. The hand grip is operatively connected with a yieldable resistance in the form of a coiled spring disposed within the armrest which is compressed by the user during forward extension of the hand grip.
The foregoing features of the invention may be embodied individually or collectively in a given work station to provide the occupant with possibility of multiple exercise functions which may be executed at particular times in conjunction with particular work tasks. Accordingly the invention provides a new and unique approach to solving problems which although heretofore recognized, have not been effectively addressed in the office seating field.
The foregoing features, advantages, and benefits of the invention, along with additional ones, will be seen in the ensuing description and claims which should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings disclose preferred embodiments of the present invention according to the best mode contemplated at the present time in carrying out the invention.